Gyanodaya

About the Organization:

Sarojini Damodaran Foundation (SDF), a Shibulal Family Philanthropic initiative established Vidyadhan Scholarship Program in 1999 to support meritorious students from economically disadvantaged families. The program was started following the decision of S. D. Shibulal, co-founder of Infosys and Axilor Ventures, and his wife, Kumari, to launch an educational initiative rooted in their belief that education transforms lives. The program was initially called Akshaya and later evolved into the Vidyadhan scholarship program.

The Story Unfolds:

A program started by supporting two children expanded beyond its initial scope over time. Initially limited to Kerala until 2014, the Vidyadhan initiative later extended to other states. This expansion also brought new challenges, particularly the need to attract external sponsors in order to increase the number of scholarships offered. 

The Big Question

Vidyadhan faces questions regarding its long-term sustainability and its dependence on the founding family as the demand for scholarships and expectations from sponsors and partners continued to rise. The case discusses the central strategic dilemma of Vidyadhan on determining how to build a wider, more durable network of sponsors and partners to support expansion and ensure continuity as the program seeks to operate at a national scale.

Why does the case matter?

This case presents students with the opportunity to recognize and analyse ‘wicked problems’ in the social sector and to understand the requirement of multi-stakeholder, iterative solutions. In addition, students will be able to evaluate different CSR implementation models and partnership structures available under the Companies Act, 2013, and assess the most appropriate options for Vidyadhan and SDF. The case also enables students to identify the challenges of scaling a philanthropic initiative into a broader movement, assess long-term sustainability options for Vidyadhan, and reflect on the characteristics of a social business model by applying a phase-wise lens to the program’s growth.

What would you decide?

Do you believe that it is possible for Vidyadhan to achieve long-term sustainability, reduce its dependence on the founding family, and successfully scale its impact at a national level while meeting the evolving expectations of sponsors and stakeholders if they build a broader network of external sponsors and enable CSR partnerships?

From the Author(s)

We wrote this case because we needed it. I teach Social Innovation and CSR, and one of the things I'm trying to do in those courses is build capacity in people who already run social programmes — heads of trusts, NGOs, foundations and CSR managers. When I went looking for cases that show the messy reality of impact assessment, designing the framework, picking the indicators, and dealing with what the data tells you and what it doesn't — I kept coming up short. Plenty of cases cover programme design, a few cover outcomes, but very few take you inside a multidimensional, multi-level evaluation of impact. 

The Vidyadhan case grew out of work we did for the Sarojini Damodaran Foundation, evaluating their scholarship programme. We went in expecting to come out with the usual numbers — access, income, mobility — and got those. But what struck me more was what I learned about the choices SDF had made along the way, the trade-offs behind them that do not show up in any report. You only see them if you spend enough time inside the programme to ask why it was built the way it was.

The case also gets into something I think the social sector doesn't talk about enough: what it actually takes to turn a programme into a movement. Scale is one thing. Depth is another. Most programmes have to pick. SDF kept trying to hold on to both, and the challenges it presented, is, I think, the most useful part of the story.

I wrote the case for my students training to be change champions, but it is for anyone running a programme and wondering whether they're doing it right.